Myth Weavers is pleased to announce the Dungeons & Dragons Create a Villain Contest! Members may create a villain using any edition of the Dungeons & Dragons rules, and the final entries will be voted on by the community.

First place wins a new copy of the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Players Handbook!

The contest runs from July 1 to July 31, and voting will then run from August 1 through August 7. The winner will be announced on August 8 and contacted via PM. Contest details and directions may be found HERE!

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It’s the year 1216. You are a young magus/maga in your third or fourth year after the gauntlet. You have received a parcel and a letter from a mysterious messenger. The parcel contains a high quality tractatus on intellego magics; the letter explains that you have been chosen to rejuvenate an old and powerful covenant. To find its location all you must do is read out loud the second half of the letter:
“I hereby solemnly promise and swear that I have not shared information about this letter or its contents with anyone, nor will I ever do so in life or death until I’ve been freed from this promise by a full member of Inter Femoribus. I swear upon the Oath of Hermes I have sworn. If I share information about this letter or its contents I renounce my Oath of Hermes and want to be hunted down like a rabid dog.”
As you swear, the back of the letter changes into a map showing the location of the covenant and a date…

I’m looking for about 4 players willing to play a mage who is 2 years + 1d8 seasons out of gauntlet. We will not (initially) be using companion characters, and the grogs will be the standard templates. Players are expected to post at least 5 times a week.
The location of the covenant is only revealed to players who create gently gifted characters before they create their characters (because they must be able to create a character that speaks the local language - put "local language" onto your character sheet if you are gently gifted and want your character to speak the local language).
Characters are created using Ars Magica core, and the Houses of Hermes books and covenants ONLY. The two years after gauntlet are there to individualize characters – in close cooperation with me. We will be using the very detailed rules for that time.
You want a familiar? Initiation into a mystery? A good book? Spend a season on it and I’ll tell you how far you get.
You are expected to plan 16 seasons past gauntlet. You’ll get 8 seasons guaranteed, plus 1d8 more seasons before the adventure starts (I roll after you lay down your plans, this random number of seasons helps avoid munchkin planning, and gies the feeling that the adventure starts unexpectedly).
There will be study intervals between adventures. The length of these intervals is determined by me. At any time, you are expected to have a study plan for the next 8 seasons.
PeVi destroyer spells are going to be less effective (-10/2 mags). Starting spells up to gauntlet should not be too exotic. I reserve the right to disallow any spell or item I don't like, if I feel it is cheesy.

To apply, post a character at gauntlet (concept, numbers). If there are a lot of applications in a short time, I'll decide whom I take (criteria: no rules mistakes, concept - diversity and creativity, quality of language).

If I had wanted to give away the setting in advance, I would have done so.

As a storyguide, it's my responsibility to provide ANY character with a challenge. Urban magi, wilderness mai, fire, water and wind magi - anything goes.

Don't worry.

Do you happen to have any past PbP experience that you could point us toward?

No offense intended at all, but you're asking for trust, and we haven't had a chance to get a feel for your style, longevity, etc., given your newness here. It doesn't help that Ars games have a pretty high early mortality rate here.

Do you happen to have any past PbP experience that you could point us toward?

No offense intended at all, but you're asking for trust, and we haven't had a chance to get a feel for your style, longevity, etc., given your newness here. It doesn't help that Ars games have a pretty high early mortality rate here.

Hope I'm not out of line for asking. Thanks!

The question is rather not the nice kind I think. My first instinct was to say take it or leave it.

But, I'm trying to be nice: I've run two Ars pbp on two other sites so far (no use looking it up - I didn't call myself bjornaer). One ended after lots of posts, the other one died in its infancy.

longevity: Maybe I get run over by a truck tomorrow, and the game ends suddenly.
style: I've chosen this website because on the Ars Magica forum (which is probably the best place to find Ars players on the web), everyone knows me and knows my "style". I am using this forum for 2 reasons: 1. Characters are not created to anticipate my style. 2. On the Ars forum, we are a community of Ars experts. I hope that this forum is somewhat more inncocent - I have no problems with typical beginner munchkinism, since that's pretty harmless, but I don't want to do the whole munchkin expert debate.

The whole ad, with its short application period, and its demanding application procedure, is created to sort out half-hearted players.

Now after all these words, I realise it comes down to Flambeau's alleged slogan: JOIN OR DIE!

The question is rather not the nice kind I think. My first instinct was to say take it or leave it.

Not at all intended to be "not nice"; I apologize if it came across that way.

To be equitable: I've played in at least three Ars games that died early here, I've run one that never made it to recruiting, just took over running one (temporarily) due to SG hiatus, and have one that ran multi-year before dying due to real life conflicts.

I don't normally ask for bona fides, but I was on the cusp regarding whether to apply, and was hoping that you might be able to put my mind at ease. I can certainly tell from the ad that you have a good grasp on the system, at the very least.

You'll likely find that the ArM community is pretty small here. I wish you luck in finding the players you're looking for in the time you've allowed, and I hope that the game proves successful for you. Bon chance!

Hey cool am interest in playing Ars magic for sure, I even the 5ed book! Its been awhile since i played so i would have to dust off the book and have a look, wont happen till weekend, so i can have something together by monday if you wanted to extend the time period. How many apps do you already have?